My 3 year old Defender caught fire last week. It was recalled 3 months after purchase and supposedly the problem was fixed. Landrover won't talk to me. Anyone has any ideas as to what started it?

 

That's intense. Sorry to hear the troubles. Amazing photos. Amazing not in the good sense, amazing in the bad sense. That pile of rubble that exists in the last photo is insane. Utterly insane. There is nothing left of the car. It looks like a campfire was there, There's a door, a fender, some ash. Not a car. I trust your family is OK.

To my knowledge. only the P400 (6 cylinder petrol engine) was recalled for the "ENGINE CAM CARRIER MAY LEAK OIL/ N763 & H426 (US recall #'s)", the only recall I'm aware of on the L663 platform since launch that has the potential to cause a fire, in writing, from JLR.

From here, I would be very careful about posting any details of the incident more than you have up here online. It is simply not worth it. So mum's the word might be the best strategy for you..

My quick take: This seems to be an insurance issue. Hopefully you have full coverage. At least in the US it would be (are you in UK?) . File a claim and let them handle it completely? I wouldn't worry about talking to JLR about it. I can see why they would not speak to you -- the car is obviously a total loss. And the car obviously burned down and it's obviously due to a fault on the car. Your insurance would most likely pursue JLR if the insurance company thinks JLR is on the hook for the fire re: a manufacturing defect too. But, that is not your problem to determine. Now -- out of curiosity's sake, I think you're right to wonder. But ... take the settlement money and live happily afterwards.

 

What’s the coverage for car fires in NSW?

Theres no requirement for any fire extinguisher in Australia non-commercial vehicles AFAIK.

Insurance surely have to pay out.

let them fight LR and you can get on with things. Those new 76 series are a heck of a platform.

hope you got all your stuff of value out of the car before pic 4

Best of luck going forward

 

What a disastrous end to a cruise! Were you headed off-roading (I spotted a Pangea green Defender in the background of the pictures in google drive)? I'm really sorry for your loss, mate.

 

Sorry for your loss. It is obvious from the pictures that the fire started from the engine bay, hence you would think a car defect. In the US, and as mentioned above, the insurance company would more than likely pursue the OEM for this type of claim. I hope you have all your maintenance records to prove the Defender was properly maintained and serviced as stipulated in the owners manual. Since LR is staying silent on this, I would also recommend getting the opinion of an attorney. The crucial points are going to be when was the last time the car was serviced and who did the service. It is possible that the tech forgot to tighten something that could have leaked and caused the fire? Good luck to you and again, sorry for your loss. I hope you and your family are all ok and no one is hurt.

 

As a retired Fire and Arson Investigator, there are a few missing pieces to the puzzle here, amid some claims. To make any assumptions about the cause of the fire without concrete facts is a fishing expedition. You mention it was recalled, but don’t mention what the recall was for, which lends nothing to the cause of it, and only leads to speculation. Obviously, a few pictures do not provide nearly enough evidence to even suggest a cause or origin but some feel that it is a vehicle fault without such information. There could be a myriad of reasons a vehicle, dwelling or structure is destroyed by fire, but being as the vehicle was completely destroyed, there is nothing left to investigate. Insurance will/should pay out on the claim but it is highly unlikely that the insurance company will go after JLR without anything to back up any claims of manufacturer defect or fault. It could have been something as benign as mice or rodents chewing on wires, which we have seen mentioned several times on this forum on the past. And without being there, and using the pics provided, the one thing I might comment on is the fact that in one of the pictures of the engine compartment, visible flames are present low in the compartment, absent thick black smoke in the incipient stage of the fire. Had this fire involved any oil leakage, I would suspect that thick black smoke would have been present at this point, and the driver would have noticed this smoke long before the fire advanced from the incipient stage to the fully developed stage. Again, not nearly enough information to rely on, just my observations of the pics and scant info provided. Sorry about your loss, hopefully there was no injury or bodily harm. That’s why we have insurance. Good luck with the claims process.

 

Thankyou for that informative reply. While driving the engine oil light came on with "add 1L oil", about 15 sec later the engine died and I noticed what I thought was steam coming from under the bonnet. Pulled over and opened the bonnet and it wasn't steam . Thick white smoke and then noticed small flame at the bottom of the engine which grew in size. The car recall was for "fixing nuts which connect the exhaust downpipes to the catalytic converter...may cause hot exhaust gas leak into the engine bay and cause a vehicle fire and risk injury and death to vehicle occupants" as quoted by Landrover. More recent Landrover recalls ( but NOT my car VIN) have been for fuel injection problems leading to fires. The alarming thing for me is how Landrover have not asked about the sequence of events leading to the fire and do not seem to care in regards to occupant safety.

 

It's nearly three years since the recall was done on this Defender.
It may be something else that started the fire, or it may be the fault returned. Looking at the state of it now, l doubt it will be possible to determine what actually happened.

However
lt sounds like you had a sudden loss of oil, if the oil level warning light came on.

 

I wonder if this recall is relevant to your vehicle: https://landroverforums.com/forum/20...recall-122429/
Here's where you can check if your vehicle was affected: https://www.nhtsa.gov/recalls - that particular recall is declared for MY2024 only, but I wouldn't be surprised if it extended at some point to include other manufacturing periods. Symptoms may indicate catastrophic oil loss from the filter housing.

 

2 recalls related to possible fire in North America, mostly oil leak related, not only 2024. Funny I never got any notifications other than security enhancement thing.